Reality check.

Well, it's been a busy weekend at the Destiny USA forum. News of Friday's court action has generated a flood of posts.

The content is disappointing, if predictable.

Some people who disagree with what the judge did -- even though they don't display much understanding of just WHAT the judge did -- aren't bothering to give a second thought to what the law says. They've gone straight to assuming, since the judge (they think) ruled against the position they favor, he must be on the take.

Why deal with the differences of opinion when you can just assume a person who varies from the your view of the world is just corrupt or dishonest? It's SO much easier.

So it's no surprise that people are throwing around allegations of forged documents and illegal actions. Or that various posters and making charges and counter-charges and frequently insulting one another, apparently just for having a different opinion. Many either have no knowledge of what happened or have an ax to grind and are quite happy to grind away, regardless of the facts.

For example, there's one poster who said he was in the courtroom.

Well, reporter Rick Moriarty was in the courtroom. In it were the court officials. And lawyers for the city. And lawyers for Destiny. And some Destiny officials. And him.

So who was that poster? He certainly didn't identify himself as representing Destiny or the city. And if he DOES work for Destiny or the city, that information would help judge the nature of his assertions and opinions, wouldn't it? Perhaps someone else slipped into the courtroom without Rick noticing....

Well, there have been plenty of questions raised. Here are the best answers I can offer now:

Were any documents forged?

No. And no one alleges any documents were forged.

Did the judge say it was illegal for the city to turn the deed for Carousel Center back to the Pyramid Cos?

No, the judge reversed the city's action signing the deed over, but he didn't say it was illegal.

He said there were related legal questions to be answered before the deed is transfered: Did the 15-year PILOT agreement end Dec. 31, or does it continue until November 2007?

The judge revoked the deed transfer until a court hears arguments over THAT question.

If the PILOT has exprired, presumably the deed would be transfered. If the PILOT is valid until 2007, the deed would remain with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency.

Pyramid's lawyers DID argue during the session that SIDA cannot unilaterally sign the deed over to it, that Pyramid must agree to accept the deed. They said the signature of the SIDA chairman signing over the deed was NOT sufficient to transfer it.

But the judge did NOT rule on this question.

However, if you consider where Pyramid's logic leads -- that any property owner with a PILOT could avoid paying property taxes indefinitely at the end of the PILOT term by refusing to sign the paperwork to accept the deed -- it seems unlikely that Pyramid would win that arguement. But, hey, I'm no lawyer, and that's what Judge Centra is for.

Did the judge rule against the city, or against Pyramid, on the question of financing for the Carousel Center expansion?

No. Pyramid asked the judge to rule that it had met the terms of the ordinance authorizing the 30-year PILOT agreement.

He did not rule on that question. He passed that to Centra, also.

Why Judge Centra?

Judge Tormey, who heard the case on Friday, assigned it to Centra because Centra will hear the eminent domain cases that seek to take the lease rights from Carousel tenants who have the power to halt changes at the mall. Since Centra was hearing that case, Tormey assigned him the related cases, too.

Incidentally, the court will decide the value of the lease rights being condemned after hearing testimony from both sides. Pyramid is responsible for paying whatever the court decides is fair. It's not just the big anchor stores that are affected; the leases of Arden B, Bath + Body, Bath + Body at Home and Weathervane are also among those in the eminent domain proceeding.

So Pyramid will pay the city nothing?

No. It paid about $7 million a year in PILOT payments. The property tax bill would be about $12 million a year, based on the existing assessment.

Pyramid will pay $800,000 a month -- an amount in between the PILOT amount and the tax amount -- to the court. When there's a ruling about whether Pyramid should be making PILOT payments (if the PILOT is valid until 2007) or paying taxes (if the PILOT expired Dec. 31), the money will be turned over to the city (as either PILOT payments or property taxes).